Chelsea star in raid terror

Chelsea star Juan Sebastian Veron and his girlfriend were threatened by a man with a machete who burst into their bedroom.

The couple woke to find the man standing over them at their home in Barnes, it was revealed this afternoon.

As the intruder stood there one of the couple's two young children wandered into the room.

The man demanded jewellery and cash and is believed to have threatened to harm the children if the 28-year-old player and his girlfriend Maria Vinaccia did not co-operate.

They handed over £60,000 worth of gems before the couple and two other women in the house were pushed at knifepoint into a bathroom and ordered to stay there. The family waited until they heard a vehicle driving away before raising the alarm yesterday morning.

Scotland Yard said the man got into the house through a bedroom window at about 7.30am. Eight people were staying in the house at the time.

One police source said: "This was clearly a very frightening experience. Threats were made against the children."

When Veron signed for Chelsea from Manchester United for £ 15million last August he was hailed by manager Claudio Ranieri as the best midfielder in the world.

The £80,000-a-week player was one of new owner Roman Abramovich's first purchases.

The raid comes only days after a court in Reading heard details of how Chelsea's millionaire vice-president Joe Hemani and his teenage daughter were attacked during a terrifying raid on their home.

Mr Hemani was beaten with crowbars and 13-year-old Francesca was thrown to the ground when a gang burst into the family's £3million riverside home in Wargrave, Berkshire.

A 35-year-old man appeared in court this morning charged with aggravated burglary.

Veron, while playing for Lazio in Rome, was one of 20 players caught up in a scandal in which bogus passports helped Italian clubs to register footballers from South America as Europeans to beat a ban on the number of non-EU players they could field.